John Wesley’s Clock

‘My favourite item’ by Kate Close – Guide

‘The single object in the museum which tells the most stories to me is John Wesley’s clock. It is the first object which our museum acquired back in the 1950’s and the first object which was put on the computer data base 60 years later.

It is a very special piece of furniture which belonged to John when he lived in London but the object has been much altered from when it was first made. If you look very closely at the clock you can see there are at least three different types of wood and several different styles of decoration. Originally it was built as a lantern clock buy it has been made into a small grandfather clock.

Why is there only one hand?

There are so many questions you can ask about this object. Why was the clock altered? Why is there only one hand? Is there a misspelling of the makers name?

There is a lovely story of a farm labourer who wanted to own the clock because it had belonged to Wesley.

I never tire of looking carefully at a well-used and much-loved clock which has had so many owners and changes over the years.